Friday, March 29, 2024

Neuroscience fair adds fun to education

February 12, 2012

For 9-year-old Makena Martin, her motivation for coming to MSU’s Neuroscience Fair and Brain Bee this weekend was a no-brainer.

“I came because my mom told me I got to hold a brain,” Martin said. “It was really fun.”

About 400 people came out to the second annual Neuroscience Fair and Brain Bee put on by the MSU Neuroscience Program on Saturday afternoon at the Biomedical Physical Sciences Building.

The event featured hands-on neuroscience demonstrations, a question and answer competition testing high school students’ neuroscience knowledge and a neuroscience art exhibition with themed artwork from local middle and high school students.

Jessica Poort, a neuroscience graduate student who helped organize the event, said her goal for the day was for people to have fun but also learn some basic neuroscience principles.

“We want to promote how fun science can be, and we like to show off what MSU can do for the public,” she said. “This is a great way of doing that, by getting people engaged with it, learning things and just showing off how great science can be.”

Holding a brain was just one of the many activities participants got to take part in. The demonstrations also included reflex testing, testing the effects of caffeine, constructing a nervous system and tricking senses with what was called a “miracle berry.”

The miracle berry demonstration involved eating a small tablet from a plant containing miraculin, which changes sweet receptors to sour receptors. Acidic substances activate the tablet, making lemon juice taste like lemonade and oranges taste like candy.

“I had a great time, especially with the sweet tablets,” 7-year-old Isaac Powell said.

Graduate student and volunteer Blake Whitt ran the tricking senses booth and said he was happy to be able to teach people about how their brains work and dispel some myths about the organ.

“I think (the brain) is something that’s probably not paid as much attention to as it ought to be,” he said. “Our little niche of science happens to be neuroscience and the brain, but we think it’s really important to start stressing scientific exploration from an early age.”

Children of all ages came to the event, and Rosa Jaiman, a neuroscience graduate student and volunteer, said she hopes the fair inspired some students to learn more about the brain and maybe even become neuroscientists in the future.

Poort said the neuroscience department is gearing up for Brain Awareness Week, a national event happening in mid-March.

“We go out and visit about 40 local schools and have a good time with the kids and try to teach them a little bit about neuroscience,” Poort said.

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Discussion

Share and discuss “Neuroscience fair adds fun to education” on social media.